Auschwitz

Auschwitz Travel Blog

The first thing we learnt about Auschwitz was that there were two camps. Auschwitz (I) and Auschwitz-Birkenau (II). We were to visit the smaller Birkenau first. Here our tour guide showed us the train tracks into the camp that lead away into the distance and a forest. All around were hundreds of chimneys, where accommodation for prisoners of war had been. The Nazi's had burnt down the wooden shacks in a last minute attempt to hide the camp at the end of the second world war but the brick chimneys still remain.

We then got back on the coach and went to Auschwitz (I) where we had lunch before watching a short film about the history of the largest death camp in Germany. Our guide then showed us round the camp, Block Death, the gallows, the shooting wall, the infamous "Arbeit macht frei" gate, gas chambers and other accommodation blocks which now hold terrifying mountains of shoes, glasses, hairbrushes, suitcases etc of people who were imprisoned at the camp.

A truly magnificent and terrifying experience. Well worth the visit although you come away still failing to understand how one group of humans could treat another in such appalling ways.